It's a Wonderful Code
by AngelofAperture
Summary: On Christmas Eve, after a series of unfortunate events on his part, Ralph begins to feel depressed and thinks that everyone would be better off if the bad guy who just wrecked the building didn't intrude on their lives anymore. A little girl claiming to be an angel sets out to show him otherwise...
1. The Last Coin

CHAPTER 1

The Last Coin

All the racers were lined up on the track and all the fans were cheering from the bleachers. They were all ready to begin their special Christmas Eve Roster Race! Up on the balcony stood Ralph and Sour Bill. "Ladies and gentleman…" Sour Bill said in his usual tone, "Please welcome our rightful ruler… President Vanellope Von Schweets." Vanellope jumped out from behind the curtains and everyone cheered and clapped. She blew kisses to her adoring fans and then tried to quiet everyone down.

"Welcome to a special Christmas Eve Roster Race!" Vanellope said to the crowd. "As you can see, I have my very best friend, Wreck-It Ralph, here to cheer me on. So there's no doubt in my mind that I'll win! But that doesn't mean the other racers shouldn't at least try!" A flurry of laughter came from the crowd of cute little candy people. Vanellope giggled a little herself and then continued with her speech. "We've all got our gold coins? We all know how this works? Let's go! Now being the kind ruler that I am, I'll go last. I'll have to give you guys _some _glimmer of hope, right?" Vanellope always enjoyed joking around with other racers, but they knew not to take her too seriously.

Taffyta Muttonfudge stepped up and tossed her gold coin onto the catapult. The coin went into the big trophy on top and she was added to the racer line-up. Then came Candlehead, Rancis, Jubileena, Minty, and the rest. Finally it was Vanellope's turn. Since she was farther away from the catapult, she had to aim very carefully. She positioned herself and instinctively stuck her tongue out, preparing for the toss.

Ralph looked at her and then the catapult and then the coin. He looked back and forth at these things until he stepped over to Vanellope. "Try a little to the left," he said while gesturing his hands which way to move.

"The left?" asked Vanellope. "Does it look off? Looks fine to me."

"And make sure you don't swing your arm up in the air too much," Ralph added. "And swing it really hard!" Vanellope shrugged. She wasn't sure about Ralph's instruction, but figuring he saw something she didn't. So she made the adjustments. She swung her arms up in the air and the gold coin went flying. It landed on the base of the catapult only to quickly bounce off and go rolling into the racetrack. Vanellope smacked the side of the balcony in frustration. Suddenly, the very late Crumbelina drove up with such force, she ran right over Vanellope's coin, bending it. Vanellope held her head in a frustrated shock.

"No! No! No!" Vanellope shouted. "The code will never recognize it now! And that was my last coin!" Her shoulders dropped as she looked back at Ralph with a sourly angry expression.

"Look, Vanellope, I'm sorry!" Ralph immediately said to her. "It really did look off to me! I thought I… I was just trying to help you!"

"Yeah, well, thanks a lot!" she barked at him. "It'll take me forever to find another one of those coins." She crossed her arms and looked away from him. She sighed and went back to talking to the crowd. "Sorry everyone! I guess I won't be racing…"

"Aaaww…" the crowed sighed in disappointment.

"Anyway, let the Roster Race commence!" shouted Vanellope, trying to sound at least a bit enthusiastic for her adoring public. She turned back to the very guilty feeling Ralph and shot him a bitter look before walking to the ladder to get down from the balcony.

"I'm sorry…" Ralph muttered. Sour Bill looked up at him and gave a grumpy sounding sigh before following Vanellope down the ladder. Ralph sat up in the balcony, hidden away for a while.

After the race started, Ralph climbed down and walked onto the racetrack. He picked up Vanellope's bent coin and tried to bend it back to the way it was so maybe it could be useable again. This, however, didn't work, as he just ended up snapping in half. He groaned in aggravation, cursing his own strength. Ralph then had a thought. He was only good at breaking things, but he did know a certain repairman who could fix that coin up in no time.

Ralph headed out of Sugar Rush, hoping to get back to his game as soon as possible. But of course, Surge Protector just _had_ to stop him. Ralph quickly stuffed the broken bits of coin in his pocket. "Name?" the Surge Protector asked.

Ralph rolled his eyes and said, "Tron!" The Surge Protector gave an annoyed grunt. "Wreck-It Ralph!" Ralph shouted at him. "Look, could you hurry this up! I have something I need to get done!"

"Ever think about doing your holiday shopping _before _Christmas Eve?" the Surge Protector said. Ralph sarcastically laughed. "Where are you coming from?"

"Sugar Rush, what do you think?!" Ralph said, getting extremely impatient.

"Where you headed?"

"Fix-It Felix, Jr."

"Proceed…"

Ralph was finally able to get back to the Fix-It Felix, Jr. game. He remembered there was going to be a Christmas party going on up in the penthouse. In the mood he was in, he wasn't sure he was up for it. But he knew no one had shown up yet since the part wasn't for another three hours. Ralph went up to the penthouse and let himself in.

Felix and Sgt. Calhoun were decorating. Lining the walls and doorways with holly and tinsel and adding decorations to the Christmas tree. Mary was practicing Christmas songs on the piano while Gene and Deanna prepared food for the guests. Felix was wearing a Santa hat, as was Calhoun (Felix made her wear it). Ralph looked around, but even all the festive lights and tinsel couldn't brighten his mood. "Hey, Felix," said Ralph.

Felix turned his head to Ralph. He smiled and said, "Hey, brother! Merry Christmas Eve!"

"Yeah, yeah, Merry Christmas Eve…" Ralph repeated. "How you doing, Sarge?"

"Pretty good!" Calhoun said, unusually happy for her. No doubt from all the holiday cheer, not to mention spending her first Christmas with her dear Felix. "Except Felix is making me wear this stupid hat."

"Aw, come on, Tammy!" Felix said. "You look cute in it!"

"Oh, that's even worse!" Calhoun joked. She turned back to Ralph. "So, is the Roster Race over already? Did Von Schweets win?"

"Um, yeah!" Ralph lied, not wanting explain anything. "Hey, Felix…"

"Yes, Ralph?" asked Felix as he climbed up a stepladder to hang a final piece of holly around the window.

"I, um, accidentally broke Vanellope's present… Could you fix it for me?"

"I will! Just before the party though. We still have lots to do!" Felix hopped down from the ladder and scampered over to Calhoun. "Milady, would you please hang this very special decoration up?" Calhoun took the decoration from him and got a good look at it. She smiled down at her beaming husband and hung the decoration on the ceiling.

"Mistletoe, huh?" Ralph commented upon seeing what was indeed mistletoe hung in front of the Christmas tree.

"Yup!" said Felix, who had a minor case of the honey glow. "I'm hoping to be caught under it with someone _special_ tonight!" Calhoun laughed and rolled her eyes.

"As if I need it," she said. She leaned down and pulled Felix's face up to hers and engaged him in a kiss. After half a minute, she finally let her enamored husband go.

"Golly, I love you!" Felix couldn't help but to say to Calhoun in a rush of emotion.

"I know," Calhoun bluntly, but happily replied. "Now go decorate the little bar in the corner." Felix nodded and grabbed some more decorations. He scurried off to the mini bar in the corner to decorate. Calhoun stared at him and lovingly sighed with an uncharacteristic smile across her face.

"Hey, Sarge, can I ask you something?" Ralph quietly said to Calhoun as he approached her.

"Oh, sure," she replied.

"Now this is just out of curiosity, keep in mind. …What do you see in Felix? Why did you marry him? Just for my own information."

Without even having to think about it, Calhoun simply responded, "He makes me smile." Ralph thought about it. The more he thought, the more it made sense. Ralph couldn't think of a thing aside from Felix that made Calhoun genuinely happy. Anyone who could melt the heart of a broken war veteran like her had to be special. Nothing else in the world made Calhoun as carefree and happy as Felix. He was the one person able to teach her to love again after having the most tragic backstory imaginable programmed into her.

Just then, the Nicelander, Roy came in. "Felix!" he said. "Sonic wants to know when the party starts. He and his friends said he might be late because he promised to do something with Amy Rose."

"Well, it's not for three hours yet," Felix replied. "You can tell him that."

"You'd think he'd make time," said Calhoun. "You said you hold this party ever year, right sweetums?"

"That's right, but it I don't blame him," said Felix.

"Well, I do!" Ralph cut in. The frustration and guilt from breaking Vanellope's coin was beginning to get to him. "I mean, he knows you hold this party every year, he should've known the date, the time!" The others were perplexed by Ralph's sudden mood swing. He seemed so stressed out, but none of them knew why.

"Ralph…it's not a big deal," Felix assured him.

"I don't care!" Ralph snapped. "Mary, can you stop with the piano?!" He shouted at Mary, who was still practicing for the party. She instantly stopped and turned around to Ralph, who looked as enraged as he did during game-play. "Why can't anything just work out!? Is that so much to ask? Can't Sonic and Amy just put off their little date or whatever and come to what they promised to come to? Didn't this come first?! Didn't we plan this like a month ago? Why do they have to go and pull something like this! …And you can tell Sonic that too!"

Everyone was silently in shock. Ralph then realized what he just said and the look of anger melted into one of regret. He looked as if he were about to say something else, but instead he quickly ran out the door, regretting every word. He went down outside in front of the building. Q*Bert saw him and hopped up.

" #^&!?" Q*Bert asked him, very concerned. He had never seen Ralph looking so guilty. Now, of course Ralph didn't speak Q*Bertese, but he had picked enough up to know that Q*Bert wanted to know what was wrong with him or what happened.

"Q*Bert…" Ralph started. "I…I don't know what to do. I broke Vanellope's last coin and now I'm sure Felix, Sgt. Calhoun, and the Nicelanders all _hate_ me." Q*Bert looked at Ralph with sorrowful eyes. "Look, Q*Bert, if you see Felix or Calhoun or any of the Nicelanders…tell em' I'm sorry. Okay?" Q*Bert nodded. "Thanks, buddy. …I think I need to go to Tapper's for awhile."

Q*Bert sadly watched his friend dismally walked off to the trolley and left the game. Ralph slowly and sadly made his way to Tapper's to drown his sorrows.


	2. What To Do

**Just to let you all know, I started writing this fan fic last Christmas Eve, it's done, I just don't like putting the whole story up at once. I know it's a bit late for a Christmas story, but I didn't feel like waiting a year to put it up. Enjoy it regardless!**

* * *

CHAPTER 2

What to Do

"I don't know what to do, Tapper," said Ralph with his hand to his forehead. "Vanellope probably _abhors_ me and I don't know if I'll ever be able to face Felix or Calhoun or any of them again. I guess I'm going to _have_ to though."

"Tell me everything," Tapper said while polishing a beer mug. Tapper always listened to Ralph's troubles, and he certainly had a lot of them.

"I broke Vanellope's last gold coin that she needs to get into any of the races. She was furious with me! I don't think she ever wants to speak to me again! Then I went off on a tangent in front of Felix and Calhoun and all them. They probably hate me now too. There's Christmas part in 2 and a half hours I have to be at and…I don't know if I can face the music."

"Well, how about this, Ralph…" Tapper began before he was interrupted from someone two seats over from Ralph.

"Wreck-It Ralph?" the person asked him. Ralph looked over and saw Knuckles from the Sonic & the Fighters game they had in the arcade.

"Yeah?" said Ralph. Suddenly, Ralph was punched square in the jaw by the little red echidna! He was surprisingly strong, knocking Ralph right off his seat. Clyde and Bowser, who were nearby, rushed to Ralph's side to make sure he was okay.

"Watch what you say, you warthog!" Knuckles shouted at him.

"He didn't say anything! What's your deal!?" Tapper yelled at Knuckles.

"You had Amy cryin' for 20 minutes before Sonic was finally able to calm her down!" Knuckles yelled.

"Wait, did Roy actually tell you guys what I said?" Ralph couldn't believe he'd be stupid enough to do that.

"Hey, Ralph's been through enough this past year," said Clyde, in Ralph's defense. "He doesn't need you making him feel bad about anything else!"

"Yeah, well maybe he should think before he goes talkin' about Sonic and Amy like that!" Knuckles shouted.

"Get out of here!" Tapper yelled at Knuckles. "And don't come back! Or I'll get Bowser here to throw you out!" Knuckles took one look at Bowser and decided to leave. He gave Ralph one last bitter glance before leaving. "And don't come back!" Tapper added.

Clyde, Bowser, and Tapper helped Ralph off the floor and back onto his seat. "Don't even worry about him, Ralph," said Clyde.

"Yeah, don't even," said Tapper. "He ain't comin' here again! You can be sure of that."

"Thanks guys," Ralph said, able to muster up a bit of smile, even though he still felt awful on the inside. "It is my fault though. I shouldn't have said anything about Sonic or Amy."

"Ah, whatever you said, you were probably right!" said Tapper.

"We all say things we regret sometimes," said Clyde. "Don't even worry yourself about it."

Ralph nodded weakly. He still felt terrible. Vanellope's coin, blowing up at everyone like that, bad-talking friends. "I think I should leave," he said.

"Okay, but if you need advice, you know where I am," Tapper told him. Ralph nodded again and headed toward the exit.

"Oh, and Ralph!" Clyde called to Ralph before he was out the door. Ralph turned around. Clyde gave a friendly smile and told him, "Merry Christmas."

"Yeah…merry Christmas to you too, Clyde," Ralph said, still sounding pretty down. He left Tapper's, feeling close to tears.

He wistfully wandered around the mostly deserted Game Central Station, losing track of time. His mind was filled with thoughts of what he wished he could go back and change. He raised his head up occasionally to see what game he was passing. When he reached Fix-It Felix, Jr., he decided it was time to go home for the night. "Some Christmas Eve this has been…" he muttered to himself.

While riding back on the trolley, he caught a glimpse of the Niceland Lake. He suddenly got a thought, and decided to make his way over to the lake. While on his way over to the lake, he looked up at the Christmas lights in the penthouse window. He saw Calhoun in the window looking like she was actually laughing. "They'd have a better party without me anyway," Ralph said to himself.

He stood on a ledge by the lake, listening to the faint sound of water flowing. He gave a heavy sigh and moved closer to the edge. "I don't know why I even bother," he said sadly to himself while staring at his reflection in the water. "Vanellope doesn't need me…she's the ruler of a whole game, why would she need a nobody friend like me? …Felix would probably be better off without the bad guy intruding in on every little thing. And Calhoun's got Felix! Why does she need to be friends with me when she's got all she ever needed right there. They're all better off if I just stay out of their way." A silence filled the air as Ralph watched the gently moving water. He began to breath heavily as he could feel himself getting teary-eyed.

A loud crashing in the water suddenly shattered the wistful silence. Ralph moved his head up and looked around the water frantically. "Help! Help!" he heard a voice plead. He looked straight ahead and saw a girl flailing around in the water, becoming unable to keep her head above the surface. Ralph swiftly jumped in and swam to the girl as fast as he possibly could. He grabbed onto her and began swimming to shore as fast as humanly possible.

Q*Bert, who was strolling by the lake, saw the half-drowned girl and an extremely exhausted Ralph as the came up on shore. "!# $%!" Q*Bert exclaimed. Q*Bert ran off in search of help. He quickly came back with the other characters from his game. They all helped Ralph and the girl up as well as escorting them back to Q*Bert's place where they could make a recovery.


	3. A Regretful Wish

CHAPTER 3

A Regretful Wish

Ralph and the girl he saved sat in Q*Bert's living room, drying off. Q*Bert brought them towel's and made sure the heat was on. Ralph was nursing a headache and noticed his lip was bleeding. He wiped of the blood from his mouth with a towel before speaking to the girl he saved. "What's your name, kid?" Ralph asked the fairly young looking girl.

"I'm Clarice," she replied.

"So, what happened back there?" Ralph asked Clarice. "How did you just fall into the lake like that?"

"I didn't fall," she replied. "I jumped in."

"Jumped in?!" Ralph said in disbelief. "What were you tryin' to do, get yourself killed?"

"No, but you were," said Clarice. "I jumped in to save you from doing yourself in."

"! #$%!" Q*Bert told her.

"I know that," she replied. "But he wouldn't regenerate in Sugar Rush, where he could easily drown himself in one of those taffy pits."

"I was gonna do what?!" Ralph shouted. "And wait…you can understand him?" Ralph asked.

"Oh sure!" Clarice replied. "I used to have a Q*Bert I was good friends with back in the arcade I used to live in. " The room suddenly grew silent.

"Uh, say, kid, what game are you from? " Ralph asked, deathly curious about where exactly this girl was from."

"Oh, who remembers? I was just some NPC in the background of a fantasy game. Wasn't all that popular if I remember correctly, that's why it was unplugged. I was still inside it too."

Ralph and Q*Bert exchanged half-confused, half-terrified looks. Without saying anything, Q*Bert hurried over to the front door and left. Ralph turned back to Clarice who was ringing out her long dress. "So then why are you here?" Ralph asked cautiously.

"Well, I was sent here!" Clarice responded. "Angels can't get their wings until they prove themselves. One of the ways to do that is to save some poor soul! And that's you, Ralph!" Clarice had a doofy smile on her face as she stared at the incredibly baffled Wreck-It Ralph. Clarice clearly saw he wasn't entirely comfortable with this concept. So Clarice tried to explain it a bit better, "Look Ralph, I know that you've had a dreadful Christmas Eve and you're feeling worthless, right?"

Ralph sighed and looked down at the floor, "I'll say… I guess being where you're from you saw it all. Right now I just feel like I just messed everything up for everyone."

"And you think killing yourself would make everyone happier?" Clarice said, lifting an eyebrow.

Ralph sort of half-chuckled, "Well, when you put it like that… I guess everyone would be better off if I were never programmed in this game at all."

Clarice then got an idea. "Never programmed in at all, huh?" she repeated. "Yes, that would work… Come with me!" Clarice pulled on Ralph's massive hand.

"Okay, okay! I'm coming!" Ralph got up and Clarice leaded him out into the middle the very empty Game Central Station. Ralph carefully watched Clarice as she scanned their surroundings.

"This looks just like the power grid my game was plugged into!" she stated. "This shouldn't be too hard."

"Look, angel, I don't know, what you're trying to do but–" Ralph was then interrupted.

"It's done," Clarice told him.

"…What's done?" asked Ralph.

"It's done. You were never programmed in," Clarice informed him. Ralph cocked at eyebrow. "Never coded. Never written in. You were never even drawn on paper first!"

"…You're insane," Ralph said.

"No, I'm not," Clarice said. "I want you to notice something. Are you clothes still wet?" Ralph ran his hands across his chess and arms. He was completely dry, even though just a minute ago we was still sopping wet. "Yup…your mouth stopped bleeding too." Ralph felt his lip, which felt like it was never hurt at all.

Ralph gave her a long, disconcerted look. "Okay, look, I think there must be something wrong with _your _code, because you are talkin' crazy right now, honey! Now you go back to your game and I'll go back to mine!"

"What game?" Clarice asked Ralph as he stomped off.

"What do you mean, 'what game?' That ga–" Ralph looked over at the empty and closed off outlet where the Fix-It Felix, Jr. game was supposed to be. "What? Where'd it go?! This is where Fix-It Felix, Jr. is! Where is it!?" He turned to Clarice, who was standing in the same spot with her hands behind her back. "Did you do something?"

"I told you what I did," Clarice bluntly responded.

"Yeah, okay, I was never coded or programmed or whatever. Sure. But then where's Felix's game?!"

"It was never made either."

"What?! Why? I was just the bad guy who wrecked the building. Why should me not existing make the whole game not exist?!"

Clarice strolled over to Ralph and looked up at the unused outlet too. "Tobikomi wanted to make sequel to Fix-It Felix, but they couldn't think up a good antagonist. Without a decent bad guy to wreck what Felix needs to fix, there can be no game. They couldn't think up a good villain, the project couldn't move forward, the idea was scrapped."

"So, Fix-It Felix, Jr. was never even _made_?" Ralph asked, beginning to quiver. Clarice shook her head. Ralph looked around and ran up Game Central Station looking over all the other games, which were still all in their proper place. When he came to the very end he saw the most heartbreaking sight. Q*Bert and the other characters from his game cuddled in a corner with a sign in front of them reading, 'Game Unplugged! Please Help!' Ralph's jaw dropped. He quickly ran up to Q*Bert and his friends. "Q*Bert! It's me!" Ralph said. The characters looked up. Q*Bert turned around and tried to see if he knew the strange gorilla-man talking to them.

"…?^&%$" said Q*Bert.

"He asked what game you were from," Clarice said, suddenly appearing beside Ralph. Ralph turned back to Q*Bert.

"I'm Wreck-It Ralph! Remember? From Fix-It Felix, Jr.! Where is it? It's gotta be hear somewhere! Come on, don't you remember? We let you move into our game and made you part of a bonus level! Remember that?"

The Q*Bert characters looked at each other, not sure if they should be terrified or confused. Q*Bert nudged them, making them get up of the floor. Q*Bert kept his eyes on Ralph while leading his co-stars into the nearby Pac-Man game. Ralph began to breathe heavily, as if he was about to start panicking. "You see?" asked Clarice. Ralph swung himself around to Clarice.

"What happened? Why aren't they in their little town houses Felix built for them?!" Ralph was getting worked up. He didn't want to believe anything Clarice was telling him, but he was starting to whether he wanted to or not.

"I just told you. You don't exist here."

Ralph backed into the wall. But then he thought of something. "Sgt. Calhoun. Where is she? She's supposed to be helping Felix set up the Christmas party! Where is she?"

"Sgt. Tamora Calhoun? What game is she from? I'm terrible at remembering things like that…" Clarice asked.

"Hero's Duty."

"Well, you just answered your own question then." Clarice followed Ralph as he hurried off to the outlet where Hero's Duty was plugged in. He began to go in, but then noticed something very strange.

"Wait, where's Surge Protector?" he asked. "He always stops me!"

"These force fields or whatever read your code, which is what triggers him to come out. You can't read a code that isn't there." Clarice had no expression on her face that told Ralph anything he needed answered. Ralph looked up and the entrance to Hero's Duty and went in anyway.

"Sgt. Calhoun?" Ralph called out. "Calhoun? Sarge? Tamora?" He called out all these while looking for her. He went so far into the game that he came across a church. "Hey…" he said. "This is the church Felix and her were married in."

"Is that so?" Clarice, once again, appearing out of nowhere beside Ralph.

"Yeah! I was his best man! Sounds like they're holding a Christmas Ever mass or something." Ralph could tell by the loud organ playing 'Hark the Herald, Angel Sings', he could hear it even from outside. "Maybe she's in there." Ralph opened up the doors. The mass looked like in was just about over with everyone heading out. Ralph stepped to the side to as he scanned the crowd carefully for Sgt. Calhoun. He didn't see her, but he did see a familiar face. "Murkowski!" he said. Private Murkowski looked over and Ralph gestured for him to come over.

"Who are you?" Murkowski asked.

"Ralph, remember?" Ralph told him. Murkowski looked at Ralph, looking like he had never met him before in his life. "Uh, forget it. Do you know where Sgt. Calhoun is? Is she here?"

"She doesn't come to this church anymore," Murkowski informed him. "She said it makes too many bad memories resurface."

"B-But this is the church she got married in!" Ralph objected.

"Almost," Murkowski said. "But she forgot to do a perimeter check and well…" Now, Ralph was talking about the matrimony between Calhoun and Felix, but Ralph gathered that Murkowski meant when he former fiancé was tragically killed by a cybug.

"Um, okay, can you tell me where she is?"

"Back at the base probably, " Murkowski told him. "Probably all alone too." Without saying another word, Ralph rushed off to the platoon's base.

Ralph banged on the door. There was several seconds of silence until the door opened up partway, still being restrained by a chain lock. "Who are you?" said the bitter and angry voice of Sgt. Calhoun.

"Can I come in, Sarge?" It's Ralph!"

"Never heard of you!"

"I'm…from another game in the arcade! I need your help, just please let me in!"

Calhoun examined Ralph and thought about it for a moment. "Okay…" she said. She closed the door and unhooked the chain, letting Ralph in. "So what is it you want?" Calhoun had a gun in hand, just incase.

"I want to know what's going on here!" said Ralph. "Why aren't you in Fix-It Felix, Jr. helping Felix set up the Christmas party?"

"Fix-It Felix? Never heard of him either," said Calhoun. Ralph was stunned.

"Never heard of him?! You _married _him!" Ralph shouted. "The only times I ever see you smile are around him! You met him when I game jumped to Sugar Rush!"

"I've never been that game in my life!" Calhoun informed him.

"But…but… You were married in that church they just held a Christmas mass in! You have to remember!" Ralph soon saw that bringing that up was a mistake. Calhoun clutched her gun and had her finger tight on the trigger.

"Get out…" she murmured.

"…Sarge, I'm sorry, I should've known not to–"

"I SAID GET OUT!" Calhoun pointed the gun right at Ralph head. Ralph put his hands up and backed away toward the door. "I don't know who you are or how you know anything about me, but I don't care! Just get away from me!" Calhoun moved toward him. Ralph ran out of the base and the door was slammed behind him. Ralph could hear some frustrated sounding shooting from behind the door.

"Now do you believe me?" asked Clarice, appearing next to Ralph out of nowhere.

"I don't know what I believe…" Ralph hopelessly answered. He sighed and said, "I need a drink. I'm going to Tapper's."


	4. Influence

CHAPTER 4

Influence

Ralph and Clarice went into Tapper's and sat down at one of the bars. "What'll you have?" Tapper asked.

"Come on, Tapper, I've been comin' here 29 years!" Ralph said. "You know what I like!"

Tapper gave him a glare and stated, "I've never seen you before in my life."

Ralph gave a heavy sigh and put his hands to his face. "Come on, it's me Wreck-It Ralph! One of your best friends! You've helped me through some of the worst times in my life!"

"And again, I don't know who ya are or what you're talkin' about. Now what will ya have?" Tapper was being uncharacteristically rude. Not like the friendly, but reserved, Tapper Ralph knew. He seemed like he was bothered by them being there.

Ralph sighed and said, "Gimme the strongest root beer you got."

"And you, kid?" Tapper asked Clarice.

"Oh, none for me, thanks," Clarice replied. Tapper shrugged, yet still looked annoyed, and went to get Ralph's drink. They heard the door to the bar open and in came Clyde and Bowser.

"What are you two doing here?" Tapper asked the two bad guys. "Didn't I tell you never to come around here again?!"

"Tapper, what the heck?" Ralph said. "You never discriminated before! You always seemed like the only guy who was totally cool with bad guys."

"I don't serve villains 'round here!" Tapper told him. "And that includes them!"

"Sir, we're sorry," Clyde began. "But it's Christmas Eve, so we thought maybe you'd…"

"But nothin'! I don't care what day it is! I don't serve bad guys!" Tapper yelled at them.

"Yeah! Get out!" a voice shouted from the back.

Ralph looked at Tapper and then looked at Clyde and Bowser. Ralph got up and went straight over to the two.

"Clyde, Bowser, what' going on?" Ralph asked them. "What's up with Tapper?"

"He never serves any villain from any game," Clyde told him. "But we were hoping since it was Christmas and all, he's let it slide for once. But it's not different than any other day, I suppose."

"But he serves anyone!" said Ralph. "I'm a bad guy and I've been coming here for 29 years!"

"And who are you?" Clyde asked him.

Ralph groaned and told them, "Ralph! I come to your Bad-Anon meeting occasionally! Remember?"

"I can't say that I do, sir," Clyde told him.

"Would you two idiots get out of here?!" a voice from the bar yelled.

"Come on, Bowser, we better go," Clyde said. The two left dejectedly and Ralph went back to his seat.

"I don't get it…" Ralph said to Clarice.

"You with them?" Tapper asked Ralph.

"With who?"

"Ghost boy and King Koopa there!"

"Why? Got a problem with that? I'm a bad guy too, ya know!"

"Get out of here!" Tapper yelled without even a follow up question. Ralph looked around and saw the bar filled with heroes of all the games in the arcade. They were all giving him bitter glares, just wanting him to leave. "You heard me! Get out of here!" Tapper yelled again.

"Come on, kid, I think we better go…" Ralph said to Clarice. Clarice got up and followed Ralph out.

"I don't get it!" Ralph cried. "Tapper's never acted like that! Even if we are in a world where I never existed, that doesn't excuse the way we acted!"

"It's amazing, isn't it?" asked Clarice. "How one character's life can affect so many others." Ralph turned to Clarice with a ponderous look. "Think about it. You said you've been going there for 29 years. That's as long as the Tapper game has been out. He's been your friend that long, so of course he'd never have a prejudice against villains, seeing how you're one and you've been his friend since the start. But for a good long time, you were his only friend that was a villain. Here, where you never existed, he never had anyone to show him that bad guys were just like everyone else. He's just as prejudice as many protagonists who only see the villain as the guy who messes everything up."

Ralph found it a bit unnerving that Clarice knew so much about him and everyone else in the arcade. He was sure she was telling the truth about this whole angel thing, but it just wouldn't sink in. "But recently, bad guys have been more, you know, understood," Ralph argued.

"That's because _you _were there to make that happen!" Clarice told him. "After you showed everyone how important the bad guy is to the game and that you're just as hard working as the good guys, things started to change. They were treated like any other hard worker. But here…"

"But here none of that happened…" Ralph finished. Ralph absentmindedly ran his hand down the side of his overalls. He noticed something odd when he reached his pocket. "Hey, where is it? …Where'd it go?" Ralph checked every other pocket he had on those overalls.

"What? Vanellope's broken coin?" Clarice asked. Ralph knew this angel knew something Ralph didn't. "That's gone too. You weren't here to break it."

"Well, there's one thing better about this world," said Ralph.

"That's arguable…" Clarice muttered.

"What? What do you mean?" Ralph suddenly had a terrifying notion. "Vanellope! Where's Vanellope? What happened to her?!" Ralph picked up Clarice and came face to face with her. "Tell me what happened to her, Clarice!"

"I-I'm not supposed to tell!" Clarice told him.

"What happened to Vanellope?!" Ralph demanded to know.

"Sh-She's still glitch!"

"WHAT?!"

"You were never here to fix Sugar Rush! She still lives alone in Diet Cola Mountain! And Turbo's still the king!"

Ralph dropped Clarice and ran as fast as he could to Sugar Rush.

He hurried into the game and immediately headed for the racetrack, hoping Vanellope would be overlooking a Roster Race or something along those lines. He was horrified to see _King Candy _wrapping up the Random Roster Race.

"Oh, what a glorious race it was!" King Candy said to his subjects. "Really it was! But since the arcade is closed tomorrow for Christmas it doesn't matter in the slightest. Merry Christmas, my sweet subjects!"

The racers and candy people cheered. Ralph ran over to King Candy as the crowd disbanded. "You! Candy king!" Ralph shouted.

"Who in the heck are you?" King Candy asked.

"What?! You don't recognize me either?!" Ralph said. "Come on, I know we were never really on good terms. But I thought you, Turbo, would remember me?"

King Candy suddenly got all flustered and defensive. "Turbo?! Turbo? Who's _Turbo_?! Never heard of the guy!"

"Don't do that, come on!" said Ralph. "Where's the real ruler Sugar Rush?!"

King Candy nervously laughed. "I _am_ the real ruler!" he stated.

"No, I mean, where's Vanellope?!"

"Vanellope? That glitch? She? The ruler? Ha! That's just silly! Duncan, Wynchell, arrested this liar and throw him in my Fungeon!"

As the two cops approached him, Ralph darted off, headed for Diet Cola Mountain. He didn't run far when he saw a little girl up in a candy cane tree. "Vanellope!?" he cried. He saw that it was indeed Vanellope sitting sadly on the top branch. He saw Duncan and Wynchell coming at him, so he grabbed onto the candy tree and made his way up. "Vanellope!" he cried out again.

"Who are you?" Vanellope asked. "Some kind of hobo?"

"No! No! It's me!" Ralph was becoming hysterical. He grabbed Vanellope and put her up to his face, hoping to jog a memory. "Come on, you remember your best friend, Ralph!"

"No! I don't!" Vanellope yelled at him, struggling to get free of his arms. "You're crazy!"

"Vanellope, please! You gotta listen to! You're not a glitch, you're a princess!"

"What are you talking about, you crazy person!" Vanellope screamed and then glitched out of Ralph's hands into midair. She fell to the ground; she was hurt, but able to shake it off enough to run away. Ralph quickly climbed down the tree and ran after her.

"Hey you! Stop!" Wynchell yelled. Ralph wasn't listening. He was more interested in trying get Vanellope to remember him.

"Help! Somebody help! This monster is chasing me!" Vanellope screamed as loud as she could.

"Please, Vanellope!" Ralph desperately shouted out at her.

"There he is!" they heard King Candy yell. Ralph saw an army of Oreo guards coming at him. He gave up on trying to catch Vanellope and focused on getting away from the guards. "Get that halitosis-riddled warthog!" King Candy told them. "And don't believe anything he says! Especially the part about me!"

Ralph ran as fast as he could, but the Oreo guards grabbed him. He struggled the best he could while shouting desperately to Vanellope, who was running off in terror.

They brought him back to King Candy. "Turbo-Tastic!" he instinctively said. "I mean _fantastic_! Fantastic! That's what I said."

"What was that first part?" asked Sour Bill.

"Nothing, nothing, I didn't say anything!"

Taffyta and Candlehead scurried up to see what was going on. "Who is that guy?" Taffyta asked. "And why would he, like, lie about you like that?"

"I don't know!" King Candy scoffed. "Ugh… Those are the things that upset me!"

"Yeah!" Candlehead said. "Not to mention _rude_!"

"I'll say it's rude!" Kindy Candy said. "It's very, very rude indeed!"

"No! No! Taffyta, Candlehead!" Ralph said, out of breath from trying to get free and running after Vanellope. "King Candy is not who he says he is! Vanellope's your ruler! Listen to me! You gotta remember!"

Taffyta and Candlehead looked at each other. King Candy bit his tongue, hoping the other characters weren't listening to what he was saying. "Lock that chronic _liar_ in the Fungeon!" King Candy demanded. The Oreo guards started to drag the freaking out Ralph back to the castle. Ralph managed to get one arm free and punched any guards that tried to grab him.

King Candy shouted something at the guards, but Ralph wasn't paying attention. He ran as fast as he could to the game's exit. He was tired and he was out of breath, but he kept running. There were tears in his eyes when he finally got back to Game Central Station.

Ralph collapsed in the middle of the floor. He looked all around himself and saw no one. "Clarice!" he shouted. "Where are you!? Clarice?! Take me back! Take me back, Clarice! I can't stand it." He began to sob and he got his knees. "I…I wanna live again! I wanna live again, Clarice!" He put his head down and continue to softly cry, "I wanna live again…"

"Ralph?" he heard a distinctly familiar voice say. Ralph looked up and couldn't believe what he saw.

"Felix!" Ralph shouted. "Felix! You're alive!" He cried tears of joy.

"Of course I am!" Felix said, half laughing. "Ralph, are you okay? You've been actin' real strange today. Ooh, you're mouth!" Felix pointed out that Ralph's lip was bleeding. Ralph felt his bottom lip and saw the blood that rubbed off on his hands. He gave a disbelieving laugh.

"M-My mouth's bleeding!" Ralph said, sounding weird happy that his mouth was gushing blood. "My mouth's bleedin', Felix!"

"Uh…yeah," Felix said, confused by his friend's joy. "You want me to fix that?"

Ralph started breathing heavily, but this time it was from how joyous he felt. He grabbed Felix and hugged him. "Oh, merry Christmas, Felix!" Ralph got up and started running around the entire arcade.

"Merry Christmas, Tapper!" he shouted. "Merry Christmas, Sugar Rush!" "Merry Christmas, Pac-Man!" "Merry Christmas, Surge Protector!"

"Yeah, and a happy New Year to you…" the Surge Protector said sarcastically.

Ralph had never been so happy to see Game Central Station. He was overjoyed to see no homeless game characters lying on the floor, huddled up for warmth. He knew he was back home where he belonged.

Ralph and Felix went back to the Niceland Apartments. Ralph hopped out of the trolley and shouted, "Merry Christmas, Niceland!" Felix laughed.

"Ralph, it's good to see that you're feeling better," he said. "Now, come on! The Christmas party's going to start soon!" Ralph, happy as can be, hurried up to the penthouse. Felix did his best to keep up.

Ralph crashed through the door. Inside were all the Nicelanders and Sgt. Calhoun. "Merry Christmas Gene, Mary, Deanna, Roy, and the rest of you!" Ralph happily shouted. He ran up to Sgt. Calhoun and–much to her great confusion –hugged her! "Merry Christmas, Sarge!"

"Um…merry Christmas!" she said.

"Did you go to that Christmas Eve mass?" Ralph asked, putting her down.

"Yeah, Felix and I got back from it a little while ago," Calhoun told him.

"Oh, hallelujah!" Ralph cried. There was a knock at the door and Ralph rushed over to it and opened it up before Felix even had the chance. It was all the Sugar Rush racers! "Taffyta, Rancis, Candlehead, Minty, Swizzle, the rest of you! Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" several of them said back.

"Come on in!" said Felix. "The party's just startin'!" All the Sugar Rush racers came in (as well as Sour Bill). At the back of the group was Vanellope, who looked up at Ralph with sorry eyes.

"Hey, Ralph," she meekly said.

"Vanellope!" Ralph was overjoyed to hear Vanellope say his name. He picked her up and hugged her. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"You're not mad at me?" Vanellope asked.

"Why would I be?" asked Ralph. "Aren't you mad at me?"

"No, no! I'm sorry about that, there will always be more coins. I shouldn't have overreacted like that. I'm sorry, Ralph!"

More and more characters showed up. Pac-Man, Clyde, Pinky, Inky, Blinky, Boswer, Mario, Sonic, Q*Bert, Tapper, the Dig-Dug characters, Frogger… Most of the arcade was crammed into that little penthouse! Ralph said Merry Christmas to each and every one of them. The ones like Tapper and Clyde, who had seen how miserable he was earlier, couldn't have been happier to see him so cheerful.

"Tammy!" Felix called to his wife. "Come on over by the tree, we're ready to exchange presents." Calhoun managed to get around everyone and up to the tree with Felix.

"Hey, Felix," said Calhoun, pulling her husband over slightly.

"Yes, honey?" Felix responded.

"Look up," said Calhoun, sounding slightly giddy. Felix looked up at the ceiling and saw the mistletoe above the two of them. The second he saw it, Calhoun pulled him and gave him a loving kiss. Ralph tried not to laugh.

"Jiminy Christmas, Tammy!" Felix said with a big smitten grin and touch of honey glow. "Not in front of everyone! …Wait a minute…did you find that hard eggnog I hid from you?"

"Yup!" said Calhoun. "If there's one way I'm going to get through this party, it's with alcohol and you!" She leaned down and put her arm around his shoulder. Ralph remembered how cold Calhoun seemed when he was in a world where he was never programmed in. It made him so happy to see her and Felix like this.

"Okay, everyone!" Felix said to all the guests in the room. "Time to exchange presents!" Ralph then remembered the coin for Vanellope. He reached in his pocket and was certainly happy to find a piece of the gold coin. But there was only one half to it. He searched his pockets frantically to see if he could find the other half, but sadly came up empty handed.

"Hey, Ralph!" Vanellope said as she ran up to Ralph. "Come on, get to the tree, time for presents!" Ralph smiled at his friend and escorted her over to the Christmas tree where everyone was told to leave their presents. Ralph was a bit sad he couldn't give Vanellope that coin, but he did have something else to give her, thankfully.

"Hey, Mr. Fix-It!" Taffyta called out. "Can we give Vanellope our presents?"

"Why certainly, dear!" Felix told her. Vanellope squealed in excitement and hopped up next to Ralph. Crumbelina stepped forward, holding her hands behind her back.

"Vanellope…" Crumbelina started. "I want to say I'm sorry for running over your last coin earlier and… I want to give you this." Crumbelina then handed Vanellope a sparkling new gold coin. Vanellope was in awe; she had no idea what to say. She snatched the coin and hugged it.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Vanellope ecstatically shouted. "You are _very_ forgiven!" Just then, Taffyta and Candlehead stepped forward and held out two gold coins.

Vanellope couldn't handle her excitement and squealed with joy again! Then Minty and Rancis gave her their coins and then Swizzle and then Jubileena until every single Sugar Rush racer contributed a coin to their leader's new collection. Vanellope was practically crying, she felt so darn loved. "We felt really bad," said Taffyta, "and we didn't want you spending Christmas in a bad mood."

"Okay, that's it," said Vanellope, piling up all her coins in front of her. "All of you line up for hug!" Ralph wiped a happy tear from his eye as Vanellope went around to all the racers, thanking them individually.

"It's that nice?" Felix said, his heart warmed but the generousness of the racers. "Mary, why don't you play us some of the songs you've been practicing'?"

Mary jumped to the piano and started playing 'Hark The Herald Angels Sing'. The characters handed out their presents to each other as Mary played the song. Some of the characters even sang along.

"Ralph!" Felix called out. "I found a present for you under tree. But I'm not sure who it's from." Ralph smiled and took the present, he opened it up and it was the other half of the coin! He open up the card attached to it. It read:

_"Dear Ralph,_

_You dropped this out in Game Central Station._

_Thought you might want it back._

_Love, Clarice _

_P.S. Thanks for the wings!"_

"Who's Clarice?" asked Felix.

Ralph smiled and simply replied, "A friend. A real good friend." Ralph held out the two halves of the coin in his hand out to Felix. "Will you?" he asked. Felix smiled at Ralph and tapped the coin with his hammer, instantly making it whole again. "Hey, Vanellope," he said to his best friend. Vanellope turned to him; she had the widest smile he had ever seen. "Here you go," he said, handing her the coin. "Another one to add to the pile." Vanellope took the coin and placed it on the sack under the tree. She turned back to Ralph and hugged him. Ralph, happy as could be, lifted her up as he started singing along with 'Hark The Herald Angels Sing'. Vanellope joined him, but couldn't exactly remember the words.

Felix then joined in the singing, and after Calhoun took another swig of that eggnog she joined in too. Soon the whole room was singing! Ralph could feel the love of his friends and colleagues. Just because he displeased a few people once or twice didn't mean there weren't a dozen other people he's made happy plenty of times, or even changed their life for the better. He realized it even more when he looked over at the elated Vanellope, who was enjoying her first Christmas with friends since she couldn't remember when and Felix and Calhoun–who were holding each other in the most loving way–he knew he had to have done something right. And now he could add one more person to that list.

The End.

* * *

**Oh my God, I am SO sorry for taking forever to update. I completely forgot about it! I hope you liked this story, and yes, I'll be the first one to say it's not exactly high art. But it was fun to see how much of It's a Wonderful Life I could cram into a completely different world. Hope you all enjoyed it!**


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